They are loosing about 7$ per domain and betting that renewal will happen. These aren't part of Verisign offering them a lower rate.

0.98 - icann = 0.8cents - transaction = like nothing left.

They are paying like 6-7 something for the domain so even if the person renews the name they are just breaking even or betting on year 3 of renewal. When most of these names will retire or be transferred out, add in fraud and chargebacks.

I guess its more of a marketing move and this loss is written off as a branding campaign.

The price is $0.98 + $0.18 ICANN fee = $1.16, but they're obviously not breaking even. However compare the cost to that of a traditional ad campaign and they're probably well out in front. Every $0.98 customer is a customer who's been left feeling positive about namecheap, and everyone who saw the bazillion retweets and forum posts about this (like this one) is left with the impression that namecheap is cheap for domains (which they are, as long as you don't want WHOIS privacy).

One of things could be for support/troubleshoots for their domain management portal, and related services. I've had an online chat with a support guy at a registrar and it was for about 15 minutes till the problem was checked and resolved. And I didn't expect they will offer that for just one domain, so I've thought my $8 or something for that year is already used up for that support guy, if not more :) But with that said, it's rare when I've needed support with any of my domains.

Please beware that his parents are now using the membership to post for their own, together with our precious son..

@gsrdgrdghd said: How much does a domain actually cost the registrars yearly?

like 7.85 I think for .com is what you have to pay Verisign and you have to have pre-deposits with them. It basically the same setup as say like a eNom reseller account. You go to the individual TLD groups, open a account, deposit a minimum amount and add more when your running out. (after your accreditation ofc)

@lbft said: Big registrars keep running these sorts of promos so they must work.

Ya these deals are pure marketing and brand awareness, taking the loss as a ad campaign like you said.

I have a feeling they'll do the promo even if the 15k limit is not reached. Maybe not for 24h, but at least for a few hours.
It would hurt future promos if people start doubting they will get anything out of them and stop taking part.

14K now and four hours to go.... well 250 tweets per hour shouldn't be that hard lol. Even if they don't reach 15000 tweets they'll probably enable the promotion anyway so that they wouldn't look bad
EDIT: Arhh seems like I got the wrong time, as corrected by @dominicl there's still about 11 hours to go!